JOIN USThe evolution of the Indian superhero
The several theories on the Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt starrer ‘Brahmastra’ reiterate the fact that the foundation of any Indian superhero film is a blend of Western influence and Indian folklore.
“Since the beginning, we have had copies of Hollywood superheroes like Superman and Batman,” notes Amborish Roychoudhury, author and film historian. “In 1960, Paidi Jairaj, who was a renowned action hero, starred in a film called ‘Return of Superman’, which was an exact retelling of Superman’s story,’” Amborish tells Showtime.
Historically, the adventures of Hanuman, the Hindu god, have been highlighted in Hindi films. Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Toofan’ (1989) had a Hanuman connection while the Telugu film ‘Superman’ (1980), starring NTR, was again related to the mighty ape. “The hero is shown wearing the Superman-like costume but on the chest, the ‘S’ is replaced by ‘H’, implying that he got the powers from Hanuman,” describes Amborish.
Bridge between comics and films
The source of most of our superhero films is mythology because comic books haven’t taken off in India. “In Hollywood, superheroes aren’t completely segregated from the comic book culture. In the West, they have witnessed the silver and golden ages of comic books (DC & Marvel),” explains Amborish.
On the contrary, Indian creators look to mythology, where gods and goddesses have superpowers. If one looks at them from the spiritual lens, they are heavenly beings but from a comic book perspective, they are superheroes. Jackie Shroff’s ‘Shiva Ka Insaaf’ (1985), Hindi’s first 3D film, is another example of a hero turning powerful, thanks to god’s blessing.
Vigilantes
Heroes in Indian films turn into vigilantes to fight the problems of society. They are no less than superheroes. “Amitabh in ‘Shahenshah’ (1980) was one of my earliest favourite superheroes,” says Arul Mani, writer, and professor of English literature at St Joseph’s College, Bengaluru. “It tried to put the superhero
personality on the superstar image of Amitabh,” he adds.
S Shankar’s Tamil films have had heroes in disguise fighting against the system. “They are dressed-up vigilantes with qualities of a superhero,” opines Arul.
“Perhaps it’s a technique to provide believable reasoning for the hero’s unbelievable strength,” he goes on further. “Like, In ‘Indian’ (1998), Kamal Haasan learns an ancient martial art called ‘varma kalai’ and fights corrupt officers. This blurring of the line between vigilantes and superheroes is interesting,” he offers.
An underwhelming genre
Despite some positives, the superhero genre in India has been directionless.
Vikramaditya Motwane’s ‘Bhavesh Joshi Superhero’ (2018), and the Sivakarthikeyan-starrer ‘Hero’ (2019) are inspired by Batman, the masked vigilante from DC comics. The heroes in both films are masked crusaders with special bikes. In ‘A Flying Jatt’ (2016), clearly inspired by Superman, Tiger Shroff’s character gains the ability to fly from a divine tree.
The three films, which tries to discuss social problems, are preachy, and suffer from a lack of focus. They emphasise on emotional manipulation through romance and family drama. Even recently released ‘Brahmastra’, despite its VFX bangs, and the action set pieces, was slammed for its poor dialogues.
Whereas in the DC and Marvel universes, the hero’s romantic adventures are as exciting as his battles with the bad guys. “Nolan’s (Christopher) Batman trilogy worked because it had the flavour of Hamlet while ‘Captain America: Winter Soldier’ (2014) was essentially a spy film in a superhero dressing. So in Hollywood, they bring in different shades to the story,” observes Falah Faisal, creator of the comic ‘Musalman’, a Muslim superhero who fights for social justice.
‘Desi’ superhero?
It’s not an easy task to create an Indian superhero, because, an average Indian ‘mass’ hero, immortalised by the likes of Rajinikanth and Salman Khan, is ‘super’ enough to conquer anything. The only way to make him ‘desi’ is to make his story rooted in the cultural environment that is relatable to people.
“The origin story of my comic ‘Musalman’ has references from the Godhra and Babri Masjid episodes. It’s my response to the politics around me. The story draws instances from Indian history,” says Faisal.
In this context, Malayalam’s ‘Minnal Murali’ is impressive. It downplays the grandiosity and celebrates a superhero who, for the most part, has an everyman quality. Till the climax, he fights wearing a ‘mundu’ and sports masks made out of everyday materials. And unlike in other Indian attempts, where the villains appear more funny than genuinely scary, ‘Minnal Murali’ has a solid antagonist. The film is somewhat sympathetic to the bad guy.
“The movie makes us care for a community. Even in Hollywood, be it Marvel’s Gorr or Erik Killmonger, they are supervillains who are retaliating against the wrong done to them. So you are invested in them. One prominent rule in a superhero world is that the hero is as good as the villain he defeats,” says Faisal.
VFX and sci-fi
The ‘Krrish’ series, starring Hrithik Roshan, was hit by the dearth of creativity. But it had terrific VFX that brought fantasy to life on screen,” feels Rahul CG, VFX coordinator (‘Avane Srimannarayana’ and ‘777 Charlie’). “Bollywood, during that time, pushed the quality of VFX,” he says.
But the first superhero who blew the minds of the 90s generation was ‘Shaktimaan’. Rahul says, “The visuals were exciting thanks to several camera tricks and the brilliant art direction.”
The sci-fi genre inevitably merges with the superhero concept. While ‘Mr India’ (1987) was a gentler version, Shankar’s ‘2.0’ was a VFX-heavy spectacle about the superhero Chitti, the robot. “The film’s VFX can match a Hollywood product like ‘Transformers’. Apart from ‘Brahmastra’, no film can come even close to its VFX quality,” says Rahul.
Future
People must not be needlessly harsh on encouraging attempts, feel experts. “When ‘Iron Man’ was released in 2007, people didn’t appreciate it. But see how it grew later. ‘Brahmastra’, despite being flawed, leaves you curious about its upcoming installments,” feels Faisal.
Amborish opines, “It has mythological references but ‘Brahmastra’ goes further and creates a secret society and talks about a divine power known as ‘shakthi’. It deserves praise for its world-building,” says Amborish.